After taking a blood meal, the tsetse fly Glossina austeni excretes the excess water and salts of the meal in approximately 30 min. During this period a volume of fluid equivalent to 80% of the unfed weight of the fly passes through the haemolymph, whose composition nevertheless remains almost constant. The fluid excreted has a higher sodium and lower potassium concentration than the haemolymph, indicating that sodium may be the prime mover in urine formation in Glossina.

© 1975 by Company of Biologists
1975
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